Iceland to grant ex-chess champ Fischer citizenship (Has been dodging U.S. deportation since 1992)

ABC News (Australia) / Reuters ^ | March 18, 2005

[Stoat]

Iceland to grant ex-chess champ Fischer citizenship

Iceland's Parliament says it will grant fugitive chess master Bobby Fischer citizenship to allow him to travel to Reykjavik from Japan, where he is in detention fighting a US deportation order.

The 62-year-old American is wanted in the United States for violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992.

He was arrested in Japan last July for travelling on an invalid US passport.

Chess fans in Iceland, where Fischer won the world title in 1972 in a classic Cold War encounter with Soviet champion Boris Spassky, offered him a home late last year and lobbied officials to issue him a special passport to travel there.

The question remained whether Japan's immigration bureau would let him go to Iceland rather than deport him to the United States, but an opposition politician in Tokyo said that he would be allowed to leave if Iceland gave him citizenship.

Icelandic parliamentarian Bjarni Benediktsson told Reuters that a committee dealing with the request agreed to recommend to parliament that it be granted, meaning Fischer could secure Icelandic citizenship by the end of next week.

Mr Benediktsson said the committee had been liaising with Japanese authorities on the issue.

Fischer fell foul of US authorities by playing a match against Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992 when it was targeted by sanctions during Belgrade's war with breakaway republics.

He then disappeared and did not resurface until 2001.

He has spent recent years moving around Europe and Asia to dodge deportation.

Fischer plans to marry a Japanese woman who heads Iceland's chess association, which has led lobbying on his behalf.

[Stoat]

Then....

And now.....

[Stoat]

See Also:

Iceland offers Fischer residency

[Dan from Michigan]

I'd love to see him go one on one with Kasparov.

[Sthitch]

Kasparov wrote about him recently in the WSJ. Today Fischer is so warped he would not stand a chance.

I hope that Iceland knows what kind of antisemitic pig they are getting. I am sure that he will violate one of their laws in short order.

[GSlob]

For "one on one with Kasparov" he's too old (62 vs. Kasparov's 42) and decades out of high level practice. Not fair.

[FairOpinion]

Isn't there a statute of limitation on this?

Bobby Fischer went to Yugoslavia to play chess, against the law, but not anything even close to Kerry meeting with the N. Vietnamese, and look where he is today.

[wingsof liberty]

Reminds me of a quote from Monty Python: "Listen Cowboy, in Iceland its dark 6 months out of the year, and its cold enough to freeze your wrists off!" Let them have him.

[Drew68]

Bobby Fischer went to Yugoslavia to play chess, against the law, but not anything even close to Kerry meeting with the N. Vietnamese, and look where he is today.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time seeing Bobby Fischer as an arch criminal over this ordeal.

Furthermore, as a free person, I am uncomfortable with my government telling me the countries I am prohibited to visit. As long as I am not engaging in seditious or treasonous activity it should really be none of their concern where I choose to travel.

[Mad Mammoth]

Bobby Fischer went to Yugoslavia to play chess, against the law, but not anything even close to Kerry meeting with the N. Vietnamese, and look where he is today.
Yeah, I'm having a hard time seeing Bobby Fischer as an arch criminal over this ordeal.

Well, that's because Kerry wasn't playing chess with the North Vietnamese Commies, he was just playing footsie.

[Stoat]

Isn't there a statute of limitation on this?

Apparently not, as the U.S. deportation order is still in effect.

Bobby Fischer went to Yugoslavia to play chess, against the law, but not anything even close to Kerry meeting with the N. Vietnamese, and look where he is today.

If we are going to use utterly corrupt, treasonous and despicable politicians as the reference standard of what constitutes appropriate jurisprudence, then in order to be consistent we would also need to free all rapists (Clinton as precedent) remove perjury as an offense (Clinton as precedent) force all people who are unable to care for themselves to die (Terri Schiavo as precedent) remove complicity in a wrongful and preventable death as an offense (Ted Kennedy as precedent) and a host of others.

Unfortunately, being 'above the law' is one of the numerous perks that corrupt politicians enjoy, and exploit to the maximum ability that is possible.

(I probably shouldn't have included Terri Schiavo in the above list, but she weighs heavily upon my mind today, as I'm sure is the case for everyone else here as well)

[Chode]

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Iceland.....Jail...
Iceland.....Jail...
Iceland.....Jail...

Hmmm... I'd have to flip a coin on that one. Is eating a bullet an option?

[BILL_C]

Kerry wasn't playing chess with the North Vietnamese Commies, he was just playing footsie.

No, Kerry was just playing TREASON

[ValenB4]

Good for Iceland. This is ridiculous. Why can't we just let this harmless crazy guy alone? God forbid someone would play a chess match in Yugoslavia. Horror of horrors.

[Stoat]

Iceland.....Jail...
Iceland.....Jail...
Iceland.....Jail...

Hmmm... I'd have to flip a coin on that one.

I'm wondering if you might be thinking of Greenland?  If it weren't for it's Socialism, fish-based economy, anti-Americanism, gun-unfriendliness, rampant alcoholism, lack of highspeed internet, lousy cuisine and extra shipping costs for eBay purchases I wouldn't mind living there at all, but bear in mind that I'm in Seattle so most places will be a step up  :-)

There are actually some nice parts of Iceland, most having to do with the scenery however:

Iceland.is - Gateway to Iceland

Is eating a bullet an option?

Not in Japan where he is now (you should see the visiting Japanese people at the gun ranges here in the USA...they love it!  They know they can't do it when they get back home so they make the most of it while they're here) and probably not in Iceland either, as they're down on stuff like individual liberty and so on and so forth. 

[WFTR]

We can't stop millions of Hispanics and can't even estimate the number of Muslim terrorists crossing our southern border every year, but we make a federal case of one crazy old man playing a chess match in Yugoslavia. The time has come to let this issue rest.

Bill

[Rembrandt_fan]

I play out Fisher's games at home to relax (along with Kasparov's, Morphy's, and Sanitaries). I've followed Bobby's career since (my) childhood, remembering the thrill my brother and I had watching him defeat Spassky and the Russian Machine. His increased irrationality over the years--exemplified by his vicious anti-semitism--breaks my heart. He, like Morphy, like Alekhine, and innumerable other grandmasters, fell prey to the mental instability that seemingly strikes them down at a ratio ten times that of the ordinary population.

Could he defeat Kasparov? Not now, probably not ever if you magically matched them both at their peak (although Kasparov, recently retired, will probably be at his peak for a few more years to come). Purely conjecture, of course.

Bobby was a beacon for the free world in the darkest days of the cold war. For that reason alone, whatever his current mental state, I think he should receive a presidential pardon. I mean, geez, Clinton practically gave pardons out like candy to lowlifes who made no contribution to their country. While having him back would mean occasionally listening to his hateful, disoriented ranting and raving, I feel it's the least we could do. It would kind of be like keeping a crazy but harmless relative at home rather than in a faraway institution.

[Rembrandt_fan]

I meant 'Santasiere' as in Anthony Santasiere, not 'Sanitaries'. Blame it on the spell checker.

[pepsionice]

If we have sunk to the level of declaring Bobby Fischer a criminal...then perhaps we have misplaced our priorities in life. I see an awful lot of folks talking big on Sunday political shows...and I don't see alot being done in the midst of the work-week. Same story.

I'd rather waste our police, intelligence and judical powers...on Ossama and his buddies...than go after Fischer. We simply aren't serious about getting the real threats to Americans or our friends.

[Rembrandt_fan]

No one arbitrarily 'declared' Fischer a criminal. He knew before the match with Spassky, funded by a Yugoslav multimillionaire, that he was violating US law. He made it worse when he refused to pay taxes on the million dollars won by (re)defeating Spassky. In fact, Bobby literally spit on the government notice pointing out his tax 'arrearage' during an international press conference. He committed major felonies. Those charges weren't pulled out of the air.